Monday, July 2, 2012
Fashion Thrift It Like It's Hot: Shopping for Cheap at Southern Thrift
Posted by Amanda Haggard on Mon, Jul 2, 2012 at 4:18 PM
Rules are also important when I set out to thrift, because I don’t want to spend too much cash or buy things that I wouldn’t normally even look at. By that I mean that sometimes certain items are appealing only because of their close proximity to shitty stuff. It’s hard to save money if you buy a bunch of garbage that only looked good because it was next to a bunch of Race for the Cure T-shirts. Also, I always start out looking for particular items. If I don’t have a little direction, it’s like serious fucking sensory overload in the thrift store.
This time I set out with a goal of spending less than 10 dollars for an outfit I could get away with wearing in this ridiculous hotness, which led me straight to Southern Thrift on Charlotte Avenue. If you can get over the constant pages over the intercom for security in section whatever, Southern Thrift hits more often than it misses, and the employees are always super-helpful. A young man named Justin was incredibly helpful today as I priced out several pieces of jewelry in the case they keep at the front counter.
First I set out to find a dress or skirt for around half of the cash I wanted to spend. Five bucks might not seem like enough, but if I wanted to spend anywhere near full price I would just go to Target and call off the skirt-search party. I found a charcoal and blue floral dress that screamed Mazzy Star and several high-waist, mid-calf skirts that looked promising — and none cost more than $4.99. Most of the skirts fit fine, but a thin black skirt with a belt and a slit up the back fit perfectly with the white linen tank-top I found to try on with each of the skirts. My Mazzy-find didn’t pan out — the previous owner had worn it to sag-status and it didn’t fit nearly as well as the skirt-tank combo.
I passed up a beautiful pair of vintage sunglasses that were $4.99 (only because they wouldn’t fit granny-style over my real glasses), and a copper bracelet that was $3.99 but way too small for my wrist. I ended up going with a long necklace made of navy and gold metal beads that was $2.99.
With the tank at $2.59, the necklace at $2.99 and the skirt at $4.99, I came out with an outfit for $11.11 after tax, which might not be less than $10, but close enough for me. The idea is to come away with more for less, and I’m not going to cry over an extra $1.11.
Next time I go out, I’ll be looking for fabric to sew curtains for my spare room for less than $10. Finding quality fabric that is visually appealing might prove to be a little bit more of a challenge, but if it the temperature keeps rising, I’ll have plenty of chances to find my way into a thrift store to peep around.
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